Insulin Reduction. Reduce the Sugar to Reduce Your Weight

NAME: INSULIN
ALLIES: BLOOD SUGAR
BODY FAT STORAGE: Belly/Lovelandles

SIGNS OF TOO MUCH INSULIN OR INSULIN RESISTANCE:

1. Abdominal obesity
2. Depression
3. Irregular menstruation and infertility
4. Lowered sex drive
5. Skin tags, acne, dark skin patches on armpits, groin, neck and elbows

Eating a lot of sugar or high glycemic foods raises insulin levels, which deposits energy from foods into fat your fat cells. 

Years ago, having tests done at my acupuncturist's office, I remember when he told me I was slightly insulin resistant. At the time, I did not know what that meant but I dove into some serious research to figure it out. Oh man, was I was disappointed, it meant I had Pre-diabetes.  This knowledge forced me to become very aware of insulin and it's impact on my emotions and body shape. I want nothing to do with insulin resistance, so I stay away from things that contribute to it. 

For me my physical symptoms of excessive insulin showed up as love-handles, a sweet tooth of MAJOR proportions, an extra 20 pounds of body weight, plus it effected my mood. There I was happy one minute then grumpy and chunky in the next. 

An explanation for insulin's purpose in the body: 
When your body notices that sugar is elevated, it is a sign that you've got more than you need; you're not burning it so it accumulates in your blood. Insulin will be released to take that sugar and store it. How does it store it? Glycogen. Your body stores very little glycogen at any one time. All the glycogen stored in your liver and muscle wouldn't last you through one active day. Once you fill up your glycogen stores that sugar is stored as fat. 
-from Mercola

My take away is: INSULIN IN CONSTANT LARGE DOSES MAKES US FAT

CONTRIBUITE TO INSULIN/BLOOD SUGAR IMBALANCE:
- Nutrient deficient carbs (soda, fast food, fruit drinks, chips, etc)
- Processed foods
- Breads/grains/cereals (screw you Fruity Pebbles)
- Sugar & artificial sweeteners
- High glycemic foods 
- Excessive fructose (fruit+honey)
- Large meals
- Liver overload (too many toxins)
- Not eating enough fat & protein
- Not getting enough fiber
- Lack of exercise

Insulin is involved in the blood sugar roller coaster. It starts with a yummy dessert. You feel like a million bucks after and while eating it, then later, your blood sugar crashes and you crave more sugar and your mood plummets. So, where it starts with dessert , it ends with a sugar crash, weight gain and possibly sugar addiction.

This whole blood sugar mess speaks numbers to me since as a kid, I grew up eating sugar. My family ate dessert every night growing up. In fact, running out of ice cream in the house was a huge mistake in my Mom's grocery shopping. I remember how upset we got when we ran out of our crack, uh, I mean ice cream. Getting away from sugar has been incredibly difficult but so very life changing.

We all need to feel accountable for our choices rather than victimizing ourselves with talk of genetics and food cravings. But we do live in a modern world where good choices are sometimes the more difficult. It's not easy to go to the grocery store instead of a drive thru. Its easier to go home after work and veg out with the TV, instead of go to the gym. No one judges you when you watch TV, nothing makes you feel uncomfortable. 

The big take away from this is the easier way is NOT the more powerful way. The more powerful way tends to yield BIG results that give you warm fuzzies inside. Just like the vegetarian who turns down meat tends to feels an endorphin rush from declining the food. Powerful choices build your confidence, encourage you to be more powerful and will lead you to good things in life.

It's my opinion, the more you do make those powerful choices; the easier and more rewarding they become. I think the paths we chose continually propel us in that same direction. If you are eating well and working out, that becomes easy; if you're not taking care of yourself, that too can become easy. That's why it's important to keep making the right choices, the ones that will make you hold your head high, make your children and family proud and help you look and feel healthy.

6 Easy Steps to Lower Insulin:

1. Turn off the TV. TV and obesity are both evil. Together, TV + Obesity are deadly. Turn off the TV for a month and you will want to thank me with a thousand kisses. You will get so much done and feel ALIVE again! Plus you can turn off your cable and use that money for a gym membership. 

2. Say "eff you"  to sugar. Its not a real food, it's chemically made and it's hurting your body. Substitute coconut sugar, honey or real maple syrup instead. 

3. Movement. Get up and walk around, clean the house, jump up and down. Feel your body, let your blood flow.

4. Start taking fish oil. I drink mine but others take it in pill form. I prefer Cod Liver Oil because it's got vitamin D in it but either way- fish oil is a staple in our house

5. Take cinnamon pills and or sprinkle cinnamon on everything. It helps!

6. Eat protein with your high glycemic foods to slow the insulin roll

If you are ready for a huge dietary overhaul, I suggest moving toward eating paleo. Paleo is good for keeping you eating real foods and not feel like you are dieting. Plus, you get to keep your body in a low inflammation state which means you won't get sick much; if ever. 

What to do when you slip up and you ate ALL that dessert? It happens to all of us! Get away from the dessert if there is any left, and go for a power walk. Your body will have an easier time if you give the sugar somewhere to go. I wrote about how I used to do burpees after I ate poorly. Movement helps with the food guilt.


Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 1  - Setting the Wheels in MotionMaking Your Meat Suit Habitable part 2 - Your Liver
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 3 - Body Fat Map
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 4 - Exercise
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 5 - Human Growth Hormone

References:
http://authoritynutrition.com/4-ways-sugar-makes-you-fat/
Master Your Metabolism, Jillian Michaels (Book)

Getting Put in My Place...With Crossfit. My WOD Struggles

One of my local Crossfit boxes, Crossfit Cherry Creek has you sign up online for class before class so they know who's attending. Since decided to do a 530am drop in, I signed up online last night. This also meant I had no idea what the workout was going to be. Doing it this way is both very good (bravo for having balls!) and also very bad (you have NO idea what you're walking into). This is what I got:


Warm up: 10 kettlebell swings, 8 goblet squats, 6 rings dips  x 2
+
Squat clean + Hang Clean at 65% working up to 80% max (don't drop the bar during each set)
5 Sets total with 45 sec. rest between sets to add weight
+

WOD: 10/7/14

50 Double Unders (my personal nemesis) or 100 singles

40 Weighted sit ups (14#)

30 Hand release push ups

20 Wall balls (14#)

10 Burpee toes to bar

400 Meter Run

2 rounds

Soooo... turns out I can't do hang cleans to save my dear little life. The coach came over and had me drop weight, change my grip and alter my form but I was still a floppy mess. It was like the first days of Crossfit were coming back to remind me of my non-lifting roots. Why was I never taught hang cleans? WTH. I felt like a Crossfit wanna-be but now I know I'll be doing more hang cleans in the gym. The coach told me people are either good at A) power cleans from the ground or B) hang cleans and I was the opposite of most people because I was better from the ground. Or was he saying that to make me feel less dorky. Dunno, but it did warm my awkward heart just a little.

The hardest part of this WOD was the non-double unders. My goal was to do all double unders and not change to singles, but if I had done that I would have never made it to the weighted sit ups in round 1, seriously, I might still be there right now - 30 minutes after class. My personal work on double unders has been dedicated and deliberate but I have yet to reap the rewards! Why can't I do double unders linked and classy like? arg. I also had a hard time with hand release push ups but I think everyone did; they were tough. The burpee toes to bar were a new move and I actually really liked them, they might make it into my repertoire at the gym.

The weighted sit ups were with a wall ball overhead touching the ground above head and then bringing it between the legs to touch the ground again. Those KILLED my traps. Let me mention, there are two places that I NEVER want to be sore:

1) My Calf muscles - My Dad has HUGE calfs for a guy, and I got a pair to match my Dad's (in my most sarcastic voice...YAY!)

2) My traps - Come on, what girl wants big traps? Not this one, two thumbs pointed this direction. 

I think she might like my calf & trap muscles

What is the place I got put this morning during Crossfit? Into the humbling room. Adding my positive spin I would say it's nice to know there's a LOT of room for improvement. 

Troubleshooting CORTISOL.

NAME: CORTISOL, The Get The Eff Out Of Here, NOW Hormone 
ACCOMPLICES:  Norepinephrine and Epinephrine
BODY FAT STORAGE: Belly

.

http://www.corporatewellnessmagazine.com/issue-26/column-issue-26/does-stress-hormone-cortisol/

Cortisol (one of the stress hormones involved in the "Flight or Fight" response) raging through your body means you are angry, irritated and storing fat around your midsection. That's reason enough to take deep breaths and chill out during traffic. Through my research, I have been learning a TON about the dangers of excess cortisol running through your body. The biggest eye opener is that excess Cortisol causes you to have high blood sugar. And high blood sugar causes weight gain, especially around your belly. This is BAD news! Cortisol, which tries to be so helpful (I say this with a roll of my eyes) in saving your life, ends up causing you to hold onto excess weight because it assumes you might need the fat storage soon.

1. Increase blood sugar which makes you store fat (gasp! the nerve)
"Another connection is cortisol’s effect on appetite and cravings for high-calorie foods. Studies have demonstrated a direct association between cortisol levels and calorie intake in populations of women.3 Cortisol may directly influence appetite and cravings by binding to hypothalamus receptors in the brain. Cortisol also indirectly influences appetite by modulating other hormones and stress responsive factors known to stimulate appetite." -TodaysDietician.com

Side note: When I was in 1st grade - or was it 3rd...hmmm. I used to be afraid of getting up to go ask the teacher to use the bathroom. So one day I decided to hold it in. Instead, I ended up peeing in my school desk and my helpful friend Elizabeth announced to the teacher and entire class that there was some sort of liquid under my chair. Yes, it was my urine. So, my point is cortisol is like that good friend who means to help but can really end up just making situations worse for you. Cortisol is your Elizabeth when you have too much stress.

2. Reduces absorption of thyroid hormones into body. Like I said before, an orchestra. Having excess cortisol means your thyroid function is messed up where T4 doesn't convert to T3. Then you also become thyroid hormone resistant, where your body is producing thyroid but not responding to it. If you don't have proper thyroid hormone absorption, you're moving towards Hashimotos/hypothyroid symptoms which means you have dry hair, hair loss, you're moody, depressed and you're gaining weight. Hypothyroid (that's me) does not make for the "life of the party" people; unless you're into hairless, dry-skinned, grouchy people.

"Other areas to address are high cortisol to progesterone or estrogen ratios. Excess cortisol is characterized by a round face and stomach along with a puffy appearance on the body (Cushings syndrome patients, who have very high cortisol levels, illustrate this point). As cortisol rises and progesterone falls, women can begin to develop fat storage at the belly. Working to lower stress by engaging in cortisol lowering exercise like yoga, Tai Chi, and meditation could be helpful, as would high intensity shorter duration cardio and weight training."
- excerpt from website here

BEST TIP for REDUCING CORTISOL and GETTING SKINNY:

The most effective way to reduce cortisol? EASY! Get some sleep. Your best sleep will be in complete darkness, I promise. Getting plenty of Z's (including naps) means you are keeping your body in a fat-burning zone instead of a muffin-top zone since Cortisol equates more sleep= low stress = skinny. And there's nothing bad about more sleeping, less stress and being skinny.
Want more info? Read More here.

Lighten Your Cortisol Influence Naturally:

1. Move at a snails pace for a long time. Go for an hour long stroll or hike, do a low-intensity yoga class, whatever you can to let your body "chill." All exercise increases cortisol, and intense exercise will increase it more; it's all about the recovery time and how you spend it that will determine the rest of your 24 hour cortisol release. While slow walks go against all the hard-core training I emphasize, low-intensity is necessary to balance out your cortisol levels. A one hour stroll is great for bringing peace into your body, as is being outside.  Don't mistake me here, an intense one-hour workout is good too, and some people (guilty!) need this more than others. I tend to worry a lot, high intensity workouts tend to make that worrisome ideas much less compelling. But too much high intensity can reverse the whole game and make my worrisome mind go into over drive. Easy does it partner.
2. Eat your B's. B vitamins are good for stress reduction. Salmon, eggs, asparagus, and parsley step up to the plate.  B vitamins supplements are always an option and give you extra energy which I rarely say no to. Plus, extra B vitamins turns your pee bright yellow which fills me with pride when I flush.
3. Load up on Vitamin C: Bell peppers, lemons, kiwi, potatoes. Cortisol depletes your body of Vitamin C, thus reducing your immune system. Vitamin C helps to reduce the amount of stress hormones in your blood, a great study here. 
4. Easy does it on the caffeine. Caffeine lasts for 6 hours in your system. All the while, your body thinks a war is going on, kinda rude. Read my liver blog post for more of an argument. Keep caffeine to 200 mg if you gotta do the Jo.
5. Take an epsom salt soak. Epsom salt is full of much needed magnesium. Magnesium helps you to detox excess cortisol. Oh dear lord. Just take a bath in epsom salt and I promise magic will happen. Epsom salt is CHEAP (you can find it in the bath area of your grocery store) and by adding magnesium back into your body, ridding yourself of muscle soreness and relaxing at the same time you are creating pure sweet rainbows and clouds for your body. Don't ask questions, just get in the bath. 
6. Meditate or at least just lay down for 5 minutes (even when you can think of 50 things that are pressing). Give yourself 5 min of nothing time to take deep breaths and reassure yourself that "all is well" If nothing else, do it just to remember that it will help your jeans fit better.
   

   

   Savasana. Feels soooo good AND calms the brain, relieves stress, insomnia and lowers blood pressure
   

   Where Cortisol invokes the "flight or fight" response, this Savasana pose counters it  the with the parasympathetic nervous system which invokes the "rest and digest" response. Just one minute of this will take an immediate effect on your nerves. Take that cortisol.

   
   
7. Laugh! No, I mean laugh HARD. Don't be the lame person who doesn't laugh, instead watch a comedy show: This guy makes me cry from laughing so hard. In a weekly yoga class I do, we take 30 seconds to laugh together. I feel silly when I do it, which makes me laugh even more. Let loose, life is funny, why else do you think we have armpit farts and this talking dog:
   
   
8. Yoga poses for Hormone balancing. Always funny to talk to guys about yoga. They think it's all about stretching, until you force them into a yoga class. They see the yoga pants and they suddenly don't judge it harshly anymore. Weird.Yoga has a deeper purpose and is more than stretching, I promise.

Still Not Sure If You Have Too Much Cortisol? 
10 Signs from Lisa Rankin MD
1. Not sleeping well
2. Still tired after you sleep well
3. Gaining weight around abdomen even with exercise and a healthy diet
4. Catch colds
5. Crave unhealthy foods
6. Backaches/Muscle aches
7. No sex drive
8. Gut acts up
9. Anxious
10. Feeling blue

I might add that I dove into this cortisol issue pretty deep because I am struggling with it myself. My workouts, plus raising 2 young kiddos and not handling stress well has left me feeling like a wreck lately and experiencing pretty much all of the symptoms I listed. So, I wanted to know how to fix it, immediately. So my research was not just for you, but for myself. I hope it helps us both! Best of luck to you, stay tuned for help with your other hormones, I'm working on posting the rest very soon!


Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 1  - Setting the Wheels in MotionMaking Your Meat Suit Habitable part 2 - Your Liver
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 3 - Body Fat Map
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 4 - Exercise
Making Your Meat Suit Habitable part 5 - Human Growth Hormone

My references if you want more detailed info:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/cortisol/#axzz3ElW7xDdb
http://www.metaboliceffect.com/hormonal-body-fat-signatures/
http://www.healthhabits.ca/2009/08/11/why-do-i-gain-fat-on-my/
http://chriskresser.com/5-ways-that-stress-causes-hypothyroid-symptoms
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111609p38.shtml

Troubleshooting ESTROGEN. Estrogen Dominance

NAME: ESTROGEN 
ACCOMPLICES: Works with progesterone
BODY FAT STORAGE AREA: Chest

Estrogen Dominance has begun to take effect in the world at a quick rate, maybe even a critical rate. Moobs are all around us, fish are changing from males to females (true story) and girls are starting puberty at very young ages (like 9 years old!) Yes, we live in a toxic, estrogen-dominant world. 

Excess Estrogen Happens when:

• We get exposed to xenostrogens (fake estrogen) which comes from toxins like plastics, house cleaning products, environmental chemicals in air and our water. Toxins in these products accumulate in the body and create excess estrogen.
• We are carrying body fat percentage greater than 28% (estrogen is stored in fat)
• We are taking birth control pills
• We eat foods with preservatives
• We eat low fiber/low fat diets without much lean quality protein
• We are stressed out and overproducing cortisol

Estrogen Dominance, borrowed from zimmernutrition.com

Signs of Imbalanced estrogen in Women: 
Acid reflux, belly fat, bloating, Decreased libido, Dry skin, Hair loss, Heavy periods, Crave carbs, high blood sugar, asthma, increased allergies, night sweats, mood swings, weight gain, insulin resistance, impaired memory, hot flashes, irritable bowel syndrome

Signs of Imbalanced estrogen in Men:
Increased body fat, low sperm count, Reduced facial hair, depression, Man-boobs, decreased muscle tone, Erectile dysfunction

BALANCE YOUR ESTROGEN DOMINANCE:

www.ionizeroasis.com

1. Ditch the Dairy! Dairy is full of estrogen.And those poor cows kept in the factory they just keep impregnating over and over against their will, ug. Poor things.
2. Eat grass fed beef and steer clear of conventional cows (pun intended.)  More info here Grass-fed is more yummy. You can buy grass fed beef here
3. Eat your broccoli, brussel sprouts and Spinach. (I am siding with our Moms on this one)
   Cruciferous veggies help your body get rid of estrogen and fight cancer - Goooo Broccoli! (cheerleader pom poms waving!)
4. Become friends with FIBER from veggies and fruits. Estrogen gets excreted from going #2, so you don't want to stay constipated, get it out! Your best allies for fiber-rich foods are prunes, lettuce, avocados, apples and pears. Make it easy with a green smoothie for breakfast.
5. Lose weight. This seems to be a win-win when it comes to so many things. You're in the right place!
6. Drink your green tea. Lowers estrogen levels
7. Limit your boozing. Alcohol increases estrogen. Besides that it makes you feel like a bag of poop the next day too. 
8. Reduce your soy intake. Isoflavones are present inside soy and will mimic estrogen. This is pretty common with processed foods so if you're limiting your fake foods, you're golden.

Gym-Trepidation...It's Real, It's Ugly And We're Going to Squash It

Recently, I had a conversation with someone who said they prefer to work out at home alone, stating they are fearful of all the gym equipment. I thought "Ya, no joke!" I decided most people  feel at least a little timid at the gym, no matter what they look like. I think it's mostly the notion that people are watching and/or judging you. But I also think you can turn that around and begin to LOVE that people are watching you. Let's get to business and make some tweaks to help you destroy that fear and trample over some fitness goals.

IT STARTS WITH FAILING

FEAR HOLDS US BACK. 
How can we get over that fear so we can reach our dreams?  I am a HUGE believer that what you do in the gym (or during your work outs if you don't do the gym) is symbolic for what you do in life. How often do you push yourself out of your comfort zone? When you start moving away from your current comfort level at the gym, you get stronger emotionally and physically.  Now imagine what you can do outside the gym with that new strength.

One of my favorite quotes I heard at my first Tough Mudder was, "When was the Last time you did something for the First time?" Doing things for the first time can be scary, no doubt there, but the longer/more you do them, the less scary they become. And it all starts with the first time. Was I scared before my first Tough Mudder? You betcha! All the better rewards though because I faced that fear head on. 

I feel very firmly that when you stretch out of your comfort zone, your excess body weight magically falls off. Fat on our body serves as a protector for us, keeping us nice and warm and safe...But it doesn't allow us to grow and move passed our fear. It's kind of like the over-protective mother who smothers you with love when you fall off your bike. Then, Instead of brushing you off and getting you back on the bike, she takes the bike away. 

Sometimes you need to be a little uncomfortable to get what you REALLY want. And I know you really want to be fit and get rid of the excess weight that haunts you. Don't forget the gym can be the medium that gets you there. Now, what are you willing to do to get it? When you want it bad enough, nothing can stop you. What if facing your gym fear was all that was holding you back from reaching your goals? 

Curtail fear of the gym:

 (for use in your arsenal)

1. Plan your workouts in advance. Know before you go in there what you are going to work on. Make it outside your comfort zone, even just a little. Baby steps are OK!

2. Testosterone building. Ever heard of the wonder woman pose? Turns out it actually builds testosterone (testosterone=confidence - I freakin' LOVE you, testosterone.) Hold this pose for two minutes. Use that two minutes to face a mirror and repeat some positive self talk. Testosterone is for us girls too, don't think the boys get to have all the fun! Testosterone makes you feel happy,energetic and confident. A fun read about what testosterone can do for you here.

(I am strong, I am powerful, I am hot, I am fearless, etc.) 

                                            An excellent video on body language. Ted Talks
 

3. Walk into the gym with a SMILE! Smile some of that yucky cortisol away. A smile never looks bad on anyone, trust me. A study showing smiling reduces cortisol and lowers your heart rate. Good for the old ticker=good for me!

4. Run or walk to the gym! Open up your energy channels, take deep refreshing breaths to expand your lungs and allow those endorphins to help you feel warm fuzzies inside

5. Try some cedarwood essential oil on your wrist. It's an essential oil that is known to increase courage while giving you self confidence and strength. Apply a drop or two to your wrist and be prepared to casually take a whiff when you feel intimidated

6. Laugh it off. Everyone feels a little timid trying new things, being in a new place around new faces. We’re human. Just know that the way you feel about the gym is the way someone else has felt before you. But the key here is to FOCUS on your goals. You’re at the gym to lose weight, look better, make friends? Well do that. 

7. We learn so much from our dogs. Downward dog yoga poses helps to ground us and ease anxiety. Try this before or while at the gym. 

Cover Me! I'm Going In (the DUNK Tank) Body Fat Test Time

My first time...dunking!

There are several ways to determine precise body fat in us humans, here are the ones I know about:
1) Air Compression Chamber

This makes me laugh

2) Calipers (those naughty squeezers have NO right to pinch me in those places!)

Oh hell no.

This is not me

3) A warm big-ass bath tub AKA a dunk tank, or hydrostatic body fat test. I chose this way because it was half price testing day, $25 and it was with a mobile testing facility. This meant I got to watch the Crossfit Masters Event at Front Range Crossfit, catch up with some old friends and get my dunk on. Indeed, good day in the life of Steph.

And the winner is:  Hydrostatic body fat testing 

Two things that made my test more amiable:

1) You get to wear your swim suit - YES! 

2)  Got to hold my nose under water  - Can't take life too seriously when you are plugging your nose

Mobile Body Fat testing, bring it!

The test began with me sitting in a tub of warm water (swim suit required!) then you loop your feet under a bar to keep you secure. You can chose to wear a heavy weight "belt" across your lap to help remind you to stay under the water. When in the dunk tank, AIR=FAT so you want to get rid of all the air in your lungs. You get 3 dunks (or more if needed) to exhale all you've got in your lung reserves.Your goal is to try to get rid of most of your air while above water since it's less time under the water.

As you feel you are getting close to emptying your lungs, slowly lay down on your back under the water (with your nose plugged!) and continue breathing air out. Once you think you are out of air, and have used your abs to push it all out, then give yourself 2 last seconds under the water before coming up for breath. Totally painless but being out of oxygen still messes with your head.

My body fat average came to 17.9% body fat. Happy Steph. Here are my results below:
Resting Metabolic Rate: 1574 Calories - This is my calories burned if I was in a coma or just laying
                                                                  in bed all day. Not gonna happen.
Daily Calories burned: 2249 Calories (this is without exercise) Bring on the steak and potatoes, this is more than I thought!


Did some math and determined:
Burning 2249 Calories means I could:
A) Eat 11.5 Donuts a day
B) Eat 59 Cups of Brussell sprouts - imagine the orchestra of music I could play if I did this.
C) Almost an entire large pepperoni pizza, tempting
D) Eat a whole jar of Almond butter **

** Not ideal but yummy for sure **
I suggest this for everyone not just because it's fun but because you can also find out how many calories you burn during exercise, specifically tailored to you. I burned over 3500 calories during my Pikes Peak hike. No wonder I was hungry!